Xbox One hasn’t had many glaring hardware issues since its launch, but one just so happened to start cropping up last month. As posted by xXFlukeNastyXx on the official Xbox forums, his Xbox One started making loud noises that sounded uncommon for a system advertised as almost silent. In the poster’s own words “I go about half way through set up and during the update stage it starts making a terrible noise. It sounds like an old printer and lots of static.” Since that original mention at the beginning of August, the source thread now contains over forty pages with dozens of unique complaints.
Thankfully however, there is a known cause for the problem. Apparently the issue occurs when the Xbox One is in a low power state without Kinect attached. This is proven by the fact that once the sensor is plugged in, all noises seem to dissipate. Because plugging in Kinect draws more power from the Xbox One, it stops producing static.
In that sense, Microsoft is offering two different solutions to the problem. If you happen to have a Kinect, you can simply attach it to make the sounds go away. However, it should also be noted that Microsoft has stated to Eurogamer that those impacted by the issue can send their consoles in for complete repair.
As many gamers know, Xbox is quite familiar with hardware faults in their systems. Xbox 360 was plagued by a heat related issue popularly called the Red Ring Of Death, that lead to many consumers purchasing or repairing several consoles till they got one that worked. Perhaps still haunted by those unfortunate memories, Microsoft is taking the moral high ground with any power consumption complaints on Xbox One.
Will static noises become Xbox One’s Red Ring Of Death? Have you experienced any issues with your snazzy current-gen console? Tell me in the comments section!
